Concord P-117 Firebrand
The P-117 is an high-performance aircraft built for the AIF's Fleet Air Arm. Along with the P-114 and the P-300, they symbolized the next generation of aviation technology within the Empire. The P-117 is similar to the Marshall-Lewis P-99 Spitfire II, boasting unrivaled speed, and outstanding weaponry and technology. Background After the debut of the F-262 and other newer Axis fighters, the P-99 Spitfire, although still competitive, was starting to lose the upper hand compared to the Luftwaffe. After having several F-262's prevail against the P-99 during a raid in the Atlantic, Marshall Lewis ended up creating the P-114, which boasted high maneuverability and speed in a swing-wing configuration. However, newer planes such as the Terran Dominion's Outrider would still theoretically housed faster speed and were capable of "boom and zoom" tactics had the potential upper hand in long-ranged attacks, and could still chose whether they wanted to engage the enemy. Furthermore, they were flexible in their roles, and were usually superior to AIF fighters in terms of speed. Along with the SE's Type 35E Seraph, they posed a great threat to the AIFAF, even though the threat from the F-262 has been marginally neutralized. As a consequence, the P-117 was created under contract by Concord Enterprises, to counteract the threat from not only the Axis, but also the rising resurgant Sith-Prometheus alliance. Design Overview Like many of the AIF fighters, the P-117 uses a long and wide fuselage, with a chiseled nose section and a bubble-canopy which allows the pilot to spot targets behind him without much difficulty. Unlike it's brother, the P-114, the Firebrand has forward canards , which delivers good hypersonic performance, and increase manuverability (ableit not as much as the P-114). It uses high-performance miniaturized impulse engines typically mounted on naval ships to accelerate the plane to speeds of up to mach 11.4. However, P-117 pilots rarely pass the Mach 9 mark, as the increased thrust from the already powerful engine hampers with maneuverability and puts strain on the nuclear reactor, causing it to overheat if pressured for too long.. In the future, it might be refitted with more efficient versions of it's current engines. It has 4 50mm lasers mounted on the cheeks of the plane, with enough power to theoretically destroy installations. It has 4 hardpoint bays on the bottom of the aircraft, with another two mounted on hidden panels. This gives the P-117 stealth characteristics and a lessened likelihood of being spotted by radar from long range. Military Service There are still no incidents where the P-117 has been actively engaged in combat, but it is rumored to be ready to intervene in the Human-Sith war. Variants *XP-117 - Prototype of the P-117. *P-117 - Production variant of the P-117. The height of the front of the aircraft has been lowered, and the canard is more prominant. Trivia *The P-117 was origionally going to be the F/A-73 built for Boony, but several complications involving the shape of the wings changed the plan entirely. *The P-117 is indirectly based off the Chengdu J-20, with it's delta wing design and it's prominant forward canards. *Like all of the other AIF fighters, the P-117 still carries the tradition of AIF planes having the word "fire" in it's name **The sole exception to this rule was the B-96 Phoenix.